Portrait of Jim Shooter

Birthday profile

Jim Shooter

Jim Shooter, American author and illustrator (died 2025)

Born
September 27, 1951
Died
June 30, 2025
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1951

About Jim Shooter

James Charles Shooter (September 27, 1951 – June 30, 2025) was an American writer, editor and publisher in the comics industry. Beginning his career writing for DC Comics at the age of 14, he had a successful but controversial run as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, and launched comics publishers Valiant, Defiant, and Broadway. == Early life == Jim Shooter was born on September 27, 1951, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to parents Ken and Eleanor "Ellie" Shooter, who were of Polish descent. Shooter read comics as a child, though he stopped when he was about eight years old. His interest in the medium was rekindled in 1963, at the age of twelve, while he recovered in a hospital after undergoing minor surgery. He was impressed with the style of Marvel Comics, which had begun publication only two years earlier. Thinking that if he learned to write the types of stories that Marvel published, he would be an asset to DC Comics – whose books, he felt, "needed the help" – Shooter spent about a year reading and studying comics from both companies. == Career == === DC Comics === At age 13, in mid-1965, Shooter wrote and drew stories featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, and sent them in to DC Comics. On February 10, 1966, he received a phone call from editor Mort Weisinger, who wanted to purchase the stories Shooter had sent, and commissioned Shooter to write Supergirl and Superman stories. Weisinger eventually offered Shooter a regular position on Legion, and wanted Shooter to come to New York to spend a couple of days in his office.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Jim Shooter timeline

  1. He also created the Superman villain Parasite in Action Comics #340 (Aug. 1966).
  2. Shooter and artist Curt Swan devised the first race between the Flash and Superman, two characters known for their superhuman speed, in "Superman's Race with the Flash!" in Superman #199 (Aug. 1967).
  3. Shooter wrote the first issue of Captain Action (Oct.-Nov. 1968), which was DC's first toy tie-in.
  4. With the quick turnover at the top, Shooter rapidly found himself rising in the ranks, and on the first working day of January 1978, he succeeded Archie Goodwin to become Marvel's ninth editor-in-chief.

The world when Jim Shooter was born

Jim Shooter was born in 1951. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1951

  • #1 song"Too Young" – Nat King Cole
  • Top movieAn American in Paris
  • Top TV showI Love Lucy
  • Best-selling bookThe Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Round the World"
  • Top headlineI Love Lucy premieres and becomes a cultural phenomenon
  • Technology milestoneFirst commercial computer (UNIVAC I) delivered
  • Defining fadI Love Lucy
  • Notable inventionSuper Glue
  • World population2.59 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonRochester Royals (NBA)
  • U.S. population154.0M

1951 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Jim Shooter's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19512026
Gas$0.27$3.45/gal
Average home$8,800$435,000
Average income$5,500$67,500
Minimum wage$0.75$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.53$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population154.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.